Yandex established control over Uber

"Yandex" and Uber agreed to create a new major player in the Russian online taxi market. The combined business, which controls Yandex, is estimated at $ 3.725 billion, Uber will invest $ 225 million, Yandex - $ 100 million. Experts note that continued strong competition could lead the parties to a catastrophe, and now in the long term they can increase the declining During the struggle of travel prices.

Yandex and Uber announced that they are uniting businesses on an online taxi order in Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan in a new company. It will also transfer the service delivery of food UberEats in these countries. Ukrainian business Uber did not enter the deal. Uber and Yandex invest in the new company $ 225 million and $ 100 million, respectively, estimating it at $ 3,725 billion, taking into account investments. Financing will go to development, regional expansion and marketing. It is assumed that 59.3% of the company will belong to Yandex, 36.6% to Uber, and 4.1% to employees. The head of Yandex.Taxi general director Tigran Khudaverdyan will head it. The deal, which is expected to close at the end of the year, will have to be coordinated with the regulators. The FAS clarified that the petition had not yet been submitted.

Based on the data for June 2017, the combined service platform will total 127 cities and 35 million trips per month with a total value of 7.9 billion rubles. Partners rate their share in the taxi market at 5-6%. The number of trips per year with Yandex.Taxi is more than double the number of trips Uber - 285 million against 134 million, respectively, follows from the presentation for investalalitikov (there is a "b"). The revenue of the Russian service is also almost twice as high - $ 1 billion versus $ 566 million. Both applications will still be available to users for ordering trips. At the same time, taxis and drivers will switch to a single technological platform, which, according to the parties, will increase the number of cars available for order, reduce the time of delivery, reduce idling.

The deal completes the competitive war that the companies have waged, believes Sergei Libin from Raiffeisenbank: "Compensation to drivers, trips are cheaper than 100 rubles. All this burned money, and long-term strategy would lead to nothing good." Similarly, Uber entered China: the merger of Uber China and Didi Chuxing Technology in the summer of 2016 led to the creation of a monopoly worth $ 35 billion. "There are several markets in the world - China, Russia, India - with a strong local competitor, with whom Uber is more friendly than Fight ", - the analyst explains.

Practice shows that such deals almost always in the medium term lead to stabilization or even higher prices in the market, said Anton Inshutin, Managing Partner of Inventure Partners (the Gett taxi service investor). In his opinion, in the case of Yandex and Uber, commissions from taxis can grow. Now Yandex.Taxi takes drivers from drivers 12-19%, Uber - 20%, analysts of Renaissance Capital pointed out in April. "But the expected time of arrival may decrease, and it is already difficult to compete with it," acknowledges Mr. Inshutin. The general director of the "Taxi Formula" Bogdan Konoshenko does not expect sharp movements in the tariff policy from the new company. In his opinion, in such a highly liquid market any twisting of nuts will immediately lead to the transition of drivers and passengers to competitors. "I think they will continue to move together with the market, so as not to scare off users and keep the partner base," Mr. Konoshenko believes.

Yandex's investors reacted positively to the deal: on July 13, at the opening of trading on the NASDAQ ADR, Yandex went up by 18.7%, to $ 32.44 per share, the highest level since July 15, 2014. By 20:30 Moscow time quotations were fixed near the mark of $ 31.58, which is 15.55% higher than the closing of the environment. The company's capitalization increased by almost $ 1.4 billion, to $ 10.2 billion. On the Moscow stock, Yandex's shares jumped 25% to the highest level in the history of trading - 2.04 thousand rubles. For paper. For the market, it was a complete surprise not only to attract a large foreign investor, but also to evaluate Yandex.Taxi, notes April Capital Investment Director Dmitry Skvortsov. "This once-venture project many analysts and investors did not take into account in the cost of" Yandex. " Therefore, immediately after the appearance of estimates, the capitalization of the parent structure has grown by a comparable amount, "explains Mr. Skvortsov. He emphasizes the sign of the deal for the entire Russian stock market, as a confirmation of the continued interest of foreign investors in business in the country.